Tidying Up
by mattsloved1
Summary: John comes home to a thoroughly cleaned flat. Or so it seems. This is my 100th posted piece!


This piece is for MLC, who mentioned cleaning for family on Saturday. I asked how it was going once and was told me if using the closets and under the bed was okay things were fine! lol

Many thanks to Johnsarmylady for looking this over for me. You are truly lovely! :-)

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John walked into the flat and nearly dropped the bags of shopping he had been carrying. For days he had been nagging his flatmate about the need to clean up the disaster that was their shared home. Long work shifts after a closed case, as well as sheer stubbornness, had stopped john from giving in as was his normal practice. With Mrs. Hudson also away visiting her sister, the clutter had grown as the tornado that was Sherlock Holmes tore through the living space.

But now, eight hours after he had left, John was face to face with a room that was cleaner than he had ever seen it before. Every item was in its proper place, the surfaces were dusted, the floor hovered and even the windows seemed to sparkle. The good doctor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them once more, John found all was the same as a few seconds earlier.

John made his way into the kitchen and set the bags onto the main table. It seemed the cleaning had extended to include the room usually filled with experimental equipment. A quick look inside the refrigerator showed it was free of any body parts, be they human or animal. In fact the only thing residing in the space was edible food.

Confused, John made his way towards Sherlock's bedroom. "Sherlock? Are you in?"

A knock on the door did not receive an answer. About to risk being yelled at, John's hand reached for the knob. Before he could begin to turn it, the doctor noticed the sound of running water, specifically water in the shower.

John rapped his knuckles against the closed entrance.

"Sherlock? Are you in there?"

A sigh could be heard as the faucet was shut off.

"Of course not, John. A random person, who magically had a set of keys to enter our flat, wandered in off the street in order to have a shower in our bathroom."

John rolled his eyes. "All right, yes, thank you for the sarcasm. Anyway, I was wondering about the sudden cleaner than average flat."

The door suddenly opened and John was faced with a still quite wet Sherlock. A towel was wrapped just above his lean hips and the fabric was pinched together between the fingers of his left hand.

"Yes, about that. Mycroft is bringing our great aunt Odelia here for tea shortly. Her presence made a purging necessary."

John could tell his flatmate was not happy about moving his possessions.

"What did you do with all of the body parts that had been sitting in the refrigerator?" John couldn't help but ask. "Did you give them to Molly for safe keeping?"

"Molly was not in an agreeable mood. I had to use Mrs. Hudson's free space downstairs."

"Sherlock!"

The man being yelled at hastened to answer. "It's only until my aunt leaves! Mrs. Hudson won't even know they were down there. I had to move them, John. Aunt Odelia doesn't like clutter of any kind."

"Did you take your dirty clothes to the cleaners then?"

Sherlock shifted from one foot to another. "No, there was no time. I had to push them under my bed until they would be out of sight."

John started to chuckle until a thought came to him. "If your bedroom, the kitchen and the living room are all neat and clean then where did all the piles of papers, books and lab equipment go?"

The consulting detective refused to make eye contact.

"Where are they?"

No answer confirmed John's suspicions and before Sherlock could grab his arm to stop him, the doctor tore through the flat and up the stairs to his bedroom, Sherlock close on his heels.

Throwing the door open, John came face to face with a sight that caused him to stop abruptly. There, on his bed, was all of Sherlock's lab equipment. Dirty beakers and Petri dishes piled on his pillow. At least a dozen piles of books and papers littered the floor, making it difficult to walk through the room properly.

Pinching his nose, John asked, "Is there anything else?"

A pause and then Sherlock answered, "The clothing we took from the dead woman's wardrobe is stuffed in your closet."

Another count, this time to twenty, was finished before John felt it was safe to speak.

"The moment your aunt and brother have vacated the premises you are going to come up here and take everything you moved up here and put it in its proper place, even if that means the Yard. You will then take all of the body parts in Mrs. Hudson's flat and put them away. After that you will take your dirty clothing to the cleaners and, on the way back you will bring home take away from the restaurant I like next to it and we will watch _Skyfall_ tonight without any scathing commentary from you."

Sherlock opened his mouth.

"_Finally_, you will remember that this is a onetime occurrence, you are lucky I don't have my father's temper, and that using the space under your bed and in my room is not proper cleaning technique. Do I make myself clear?"

Sherlock's mouth snapped shut before he nodded in agreement and ran down the stairs.

John took yet another deep breath before leaving his room and slowly following his mad flatmate.


End file.
